“The dramatic reduction in violence has opened the way for a return to something approaching normal political and economic life for the average Iraqi,” McCain said.
Fully aware of this supercharged environment in which the slightest slight is elevated to the most egregious insult, I waded in — okay, dove in — by demonstrating what constitutes a real insult.
I believe that loyalty is a cardinal virtue. Nowhere in the world is loyalty so little revered and tittle-tattle so greatly venerated as in Washington. I was a little-known political consultant until Bill Clinton made me. When he came upon hard times, I felt it my duty — whatever my personal misgivings — to stick by him. At the very least, I would have stayed silent. And maybe that’s my problem with what Bill Richardson did. Silence on his part would have spoken loudly enough.
Wow. So here’s a completely far-fetched analogy to put this in perspective. Let’s say I’m the lookout on a pirate ship (arrrr!), and I owe everything I’ve got to the ol’ Cap’n. But said Captain is drunk as hell and intent on wrecking us into a reef. The trusty first mate is ready to take the helm, but the Captain won’t give up because his perspective is tainted by rum and scurvy. The entire crew is leaning towards ye olde first mate and I stand up and say, “Hey, the Cap’n is tanked, I say we let the first mate take over before we all die. Whaddya say?” Then the bald, mangy parrot starts hollering “traitor!” at the top of his lungs.
See how I did that? I play the part of Bill Richardson, Hillary is the Captain, Obama is the first mate, the ship is the Democratic Party and James “the ragin’ cajun” Carville is the parrot. Nobody likes a mean parrot. Nobody.